Margaret Lyons

Individually, the performances are terrific.... Bloodline presents itself so generically. You can get away with lousy dialogue, or underdeveloped acting, or common character types, or an unspecial visual style. Just not all of it at once.

James Poniewozik

The biggest weakness of Bloodline is that the characters are types, straight down the line: the hardass dad, the soft-hearted mom, the peacemaker, the black sheep. And the scripts don’t do much to round them out.... They’re well-played types at least.

Chuck Bowen

The problem with this promising but often forgettable mystery is ultimately simple: One never really feels the idiosyncratic heat. These pulp shenanigans fails to cohere as a distinctly unified vision.

Ben Travers

Bloodline creates a unique, insular world, but also one without the heartbeat that gave life to its alt-world, comedic brother [Arrested Development]. Rarely do we escape the distinctly depressed insular universe of the Reynolds' family, making for an experience both intoxicating and claustrophobic.

Matthew Gilbert

Hank Stuever

There’s not a lackluster performance among the superb cast members of Bloodline; Chandler and Cardellini, especially, are in top form. Nevertheless, it’s Mendelsohn, as Danny, who makes the best of a script that at times seems overly opaque.

Melissa Leon

Todd VanDerWerff

Too much of those first nine episodes is taken up with vague hints of something dramatic happening just over the horizon.... Chandler, Mendelsohn, and Spacek all give searing performances. In particular, the final confrontation between Chandler and Mendelsohn is filled with meaty moments that both actors sink their teeth into.

Brian Lowry

Verne Gay

At least in the first three episodes provided for review, what the Kesslers and Zelman don't seem to quite realize is how much of a narcotic this setting actually turns out to be. The story is also often languid to the point of stationary.

Brian Tallerico

The premiere is weighed down with a lot of character set-up, taking place mostly at the reunion and focusing on the dynamic between John and Danny. While the next two episodes are tighter, thanks in no small part to an interesting narrative twist that ratchets up tension in the family, there are things that work right from the very beginning, mostly thanks to the cast.

Tirdad Derakhshani

An intricately drawn and superbly cast portrait of a family in crisis that evokes Raymond Carver and James Dickey, Bloodline has the feel, the imaginative reach and aesthetic depth and resonance of a novel.

Ellen Gray

Robert Lloyd

As madly tied to one another as they are, the Rayburns are, in the first few episodes, at least, a little hard to care about. Yet there is enough happening by the third episode that I will definitely watch the fourth, just to see what might or might not happen, what herrings might be red, and what surprises might be truly surprising.

Diane Gordon

The show doles out morsels of information slowly, like a trail of bread crumbs, which makes for a satisfying viewing experience and feeds your curiosity while making you question other aspects even more.

Ken Tucker

Melissa Maerz

There are times when Bloodline feels closer to a soap like How To Get Away With Murder than the sunshine state noir it wants to be. But three episodes in, owing to quick plotting and strong performances, I'm hooked. [20/27 Mar 2015, p.86]

Joshua Alston

Chuck Barney

Vicki Hyman

Mendelsohn is superb as Danny, who shifts between vulnerability and venality with a swiftness that will leave you breathless. And there is an authenticity to the interplay between these adult siblings, freighted with unspoken accusations, long-held grudges, bitter rivalries and yes, even love, hinted at in flashbacks and fleshed out in a shocking flash-forward.

Ed Bark

Buoyed by a bravura performance from Australian Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises) as prodigal son Danny Rayburn, Bloodline is an absorbing, fractious family drama that captivates despite giving away Season 1’s major development in the very first hour.